The Washington fold act

Was anybody really surprised when the Washington Caps of the NHL bowed out to Pittsburgh? Even though the deciding Game 7 was on the Caps' home ice?

It's just what they do. In recent times the Caps have won the President's trophy often for having the best regular season record. But they haven't made it out of the second round of the playoffs for a quarter century. When the going gets tough, the Caps get choking.

In the NBA, the Washington Wizards forced a Game 7 with the Boston Celtics. It will be played in Beantown. Who do you think is going to win THAT one to advance to the eastern conference finals? Here's a semi-educated guess -- it won't be a Washington team. Their fold number is overdue to pop up.

Consider the NFL. The Redskins, once a proud franchise, haven't been any good since Joe Gibbs quit as head coach. You remember Joe. He was the all-American boy, red, white, and blue all the way. A humble and deeply religious man. The good Mr. G decided to pursue a future as a NASCAR owner.

That's great, but also raises an interesting question -- if he was such a patriotic God fearing flag waver, why, tell me WHY, did he choose Toyotas for race cars, and hire a heathen like Kyle Busch as his lead driver? Ford or Chevy likely would have been more than happy to supply him with cars and motors, but no, he had to go the Japanese route. Something was always wrong with this picture. Still is.

Who does that leave? The Nationals of Major League Baseball. Currently, they sit atop their division and are cruising right along. The Nats have talent galore.

But wait until October. They'll fold, like they always do. Because that's just the way things are in DC.

Good grief. Even the politicians have (again) joined the losing act. One would think they have plenty of pressing issues to deal with. To build or not to build the "wall", revamping health care, simplifying the tax code, reducing that pesky deficit, getting a handle on the immigration/refugee crisis, improving care for injured veterans at VA facilities, and let's not forget the crumbling infra-structure in America. Or the legions of homeless that desperately need a roof over their heads and something to eat.


But no, all that has been kicked to the curb. Not important enough. Now they're busy arguing among themselves about why an FBI chief got fired. Let the hearings begin and the partisan sniping continue. All while nothing else gets done. It's a convenient cop-out of their responsibilities, but it sure doesn't help John and Jane Citizen much in the real world. It's just one more example of how Washington seems to breed losers when the pressure ratchets up. Must be something in the air.

On a lighter note, consider the Washington Generals' record against the Harlem Globetrotters. Though exact stats remain sketchy, it's no secret the Trotters won well over 10,000 games against the Gens, while only losing one. That's a very impressive percentage, even though the games were -- shhh, it's a secret -- "allegedly" rigged. Still, the Washington squad managed a single victory. That was way back in the Nixon era, not long before that Watergate thing reared its ugly head. In hindsight, it seems ironically fitting enough.

So no matter how you want to slice it or dice it, when it comes to Washington DC, be it hockey, football, basketball, baseball, or even politics, they have long since earned the reputation of being chokers and losers in the end.

Perhaps the most trusted TV news man (Walter Cronkite) of all time said it best when he signed off every day....

And that's just the way it is.

Either that, or the Warner Brothers cartoons folks nailed it with their famous Looney Tunes bit at the end of a show.

Th-th-th-th-that's all folks.